holiday

This is just a quick snapshot of my holiday to Hong Kong and a bit of a memoir of my experiences.

Day 1: The Day of Arrival. After dropping off my bags at the hotel, I spent the day wondering around the little lane ways in Wan Chai. This part of the town was less developed than the CBD. I realised that I underestimated the language barrier. The lane ways were covered in small stores and outlets. There was no order to how the shops are situated. For example, there were meat stores shoulder to shoulder with ladies lingerie shops.

Wan Chai, Hong Kong 2017-04-22

Day 2: Less disoriented after a decent night’s sleep. This is when I noticed how ridiculously busy this town is! Seriously, it seems like people are in such a hurry. Aside from when riding the escalators I have not many positive social etiquette from people here. There is no concept of “giving way” to others when walking. I have been impressed with the city’s transport network however. The train network, which is almost identical to London’s underground metro, is efficient and fast. Oh and their Octopus card, which is like the ‘go card’ in Australia, can be used not only for transport but also as an eftpos card in general. I thought this was super cool 😎

Happiness Square, Wan Chai 2017-04-23

Day 3: I visited the Victoria Peak, which is probably one of the top 3 tourists attractions of the city (the other 2 in my opinion are Disneyland & Macau). The highlight of the day was riding the Peak Tram. The tram has been operating since 1988 and has a maximum slope of nearly 45 degrees (48% gradient). Tram ride is a MUST in my opinion.

View from the Peak Tram 2017-04-24

My travel tips for Hong Kong based on my first 3 days here are:

Be prepared to battle the crowd.

Be prepared for a language barrier.

Be prepared for confronting scenes of animals in meat stores (dead & alive), especially if visiting areas outside of the CBD.

Enjoy the efficient transport network.

Eating out is not as cheap as I thought it would be.

Very limited vegan options (at least any that is clearly marked), slightly less limited for vegetarians but an abundance of exotic food to try if you eat meat (snake meat anyone?)

I hope you enjoyed this post and maybe find it useful if you are planning to travel to Hong Kong. Please share your own experience if you’ve travelled to Hong Kong ❤️

1. Take a Coffee Break

Well, it doesn’t have to be ‘coffee’ but the point is to have a break and a drink. You can have a glass of water, a juice or your beloved coffee. Whatever your choice of beverage is, don’t neglect it when things get busy in the office. It’s ok to leave your desk for five minutes to get a drink. Go outside if possible, if only for five minutes.

2. Turn off your Phone and Emails for a While

You can check them at given intervals, say every two hours, but don’t let the constant ‘dings’ distract and stress you. You can have a auto-reply that states you aren’t checking your emails and phone at the moment and that you’ll get to them as soon as possible. You could give out your mobile for emergencies, but be sure to define what an “emergency” is depending on your field of work.

3. Stretch

Yep, stretch out your arms and legs. You can do it at your desk (deskercise). Here are some other sites that gives you simple desk exercises:

4. Breath

When things get really busy, that’s when we stress the most. In those times I find it helpful to just close my eyes and count to ten. If you can count 10 slow breaths that is even better.

5. Have a Lunch Break

One thing I am super guilty of is during busy periods at work I eat lunch while working. Or worst still, I don’t eat lunch at all because there is too much work to do. Think about that. I tell myself I have too much work to do that I can’t even give myself 30 minutes to eat lunch! This is not ok. I realise this now. We can’t work at the cost of our health. So my tip number five is to always have a proper lunch break. It can be 60 minutes or 30 minutes. Whatever it is, do take it. Leave the desk, or better yet leave the office to have your lunch. You will come back refreshed and re-energised ready to tackle rest of the working day.

6. Leave Work on Time

Some bosses are very good at guilt-tripping us. So much so that we feel oblige to stay back in the office for unreasonable hours to finish a project. How late have you stayed back? Maybe until 8pm or 9pm when your finishing time is 5pm? Maybe you come on the weekends (I know I have). Do you get rewarded for your extra efforts? Maybe overtime pay or time in lieu? If not, do you at least get recognised and acknowledged for your extra efforts? If the answer is no to these questions, you absolutely do not have to keep working overtime. I guess I should add a disclosure here, this depends on what your job is. If it is a about life and death, it might be more acceptable to do the extra hours (maybe you are a doctor, a nurse, a vet, or a paramedic). For most of us though, work work doesn’t deal with life and death. It’s ok if you can’t get everything done in one day. It’s ok to finish work at the time you are suppose to finish and start again the next day.

Remember, at the end of the day we all can do our best and nothing more.

Do you have your own tips for taking breaks during busy times? Leave a comment and share them with me.